This 100-square-metre log house in Helsinki, designed in a traditional style, is like an adorable puppy. Passers-by stop to admire it and speak affectionately of the house.
The young couple’s picturesque, one-year-old log house fits the description of a timeless residential idyll. The lush, 400-square-metre plot in Helsinki adds to the house’s cosiness. Its neighbours are a 1940s war veteran’s house and a building known as Helsinki’s smallest detached house, a red-painted cottage of less than 30 square metres.
With the arrival of summer, there is even more to admire. In the warmth of spring, the two apple trees spared on the plot during construction are beginning to blossom, and it is only a matter of time before a potato patch appears in front of the house. The couple plan to establish a traditional vegetable garden. As a result, even more passers-by stop to admire the beautiful grounds. You can look, but don’t touch. The lively dog Luna makes sure of that; her barking is sure to announce when uninvited guests approach the house.
A traditionally beautiful log house
Finding a plot in Puistola was a perfect match for the couple after they had given up their search for an old house. Living in a flat in South Haaga, they initially considered a complete renovation of an old property. As their thoughts turned to building a new house, their number one wish was specifically Puistola, known for its detached wooden houses. These began to spring up like mushrooms in the early 20th century in an area that was then still part of the rural municipality of Helsinki. In those days, plots for detached houses were considerably larger than they are today. In many of Helsinki’s detached house areas, gardens of over a thousand square metres have been divided into two plots.
When the former residents of the neighbouring house decided to move, a house built after the war and the adjacent plot came up for sale at the same time. The deals were struck quickly. The house was bought by a family of architects and the plot by a couple planning to build. The location was so perfect for their plans that the decision to buy the plot was made in under half an hour. The solution was perfect also because the neighbour who had sold the property became the lead designer for the couple’s charming log house.
When the plot was purchased, the decision to build specifically a log house had not yet been set in stone. The husband was also keen on other options and modern architecture. The wife, on the other hand, wanted nothing but a log house. The reason for this was her warm childhood memories of her grandmother’s house, an old log house. The wife’s two other priorities for design and planning were a cosy overall look and positioning the kitchen so that guests arriving on the plot could be seen through its windows.
Building regulations required the construction of a 1.5- or 2-floor house. The end result is a traditionally beautiful log house with a steep gabled roof, an open porch at the entrance and dormer windows on the upper floor. The logs were sourced from Kuusamo Log Houses.
Construction was preceded by Helsinki’s slow planning permission process. The planning permission was finally granted in September 2018, after a wait of eight months. Construction took one year and four months. The future owner of the house enlisted his father’s help with the interior work.
Space used efficiently
The space has been used extremely efficiently. The house has a net floor area of less than 100 square metres – 96 to be precise. This space accommodates a separate kitchen with a dining nook, a living room, a study/library and a sauna. There are three bedrooms upstairs.
Staircases often take up a lot of space, but with a bit of ingenuity, the shape of the staircase can be put to good use. There are pull-out drawers under the steps, which work perfectly for storing shoes, for example. The space beneath the stairs has also been put to good use. The bathroom shower fits perfectly underneath them. This type of staircase solution is not available as a prefabricated product, so it has been built from solid oak.
There is no dedicated utility room in the house. Laundry is done in the spacious upstairs WC. The chimney is almost in the centre of the house. Its location has determined not only the position of the living room fireplace but also that of the sauna. The sauna stove is wood-fired.
Construction costs were kept in check by using leftover surface materials from other builders. The interior flooring and some of the tiles, amongst other things, were sourced via the second-hand website. The kitchen cupboards were bought from Ikea, and the worktops from Bauhaus.
The couple wish to keep the house’s soft brown exterior colour a secret. It was mixed in collaboration with Tammiston Värisilmä and Teknos. Inside, the colour scheme was kept neutral. The choice of finishes emphasised simplicity and timelessness.
The furnishings are traditionally cosy, reminiscent of a grandmother’s house that holds warm childhood memories. Almost all the furniture was bought second-hand. As expected, the living room is dominated by an old rocking chair.
Inviting – this article was first published in Uusi Koti magazine, issue 5/2021. The article was written by Jorma Välimaa and photographed by Hans Koistinen.
Would you like to find out more about the property?
Take a look at the little log house in the video.
